By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterThe first day of the November “sweeps” ratings period also marked this season’s last edition of Thursday Night Football on CBS.

The New England Patriots’ clubbing of the Miami Dolphins, which ran until 10:28 p.m., also punched out all competing programming. The game averaged 276,214 total viewers and 142,907 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic. The NFL Network’s simulcast tacked on another 70,824 total viewers, with 47,636 in the 18-to-49 age range. NFL Net now will exclusively carry the rest of the Thursday night schedule, with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms remaining in the booth.

On Fox Sports 1, TCU’s rout of West Virginia was no match for the NFL. It drew 113,318 total viewers and 25,406 in the 18-to-49 motherlode. Over on TNT, the Dallas Mavericks’ late night loss to the L.A. Clippers had respective totals of 92,071 and 66,690 viewers.

Thursday night’s top non-sports attractions were ABC’s 8 p.m. episode of Scandal in total viewers (191,225) and Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast in the 18-to-49 realm (66,690).

Here are the local news derby results on the first day of the November “sweeps.”

TEGNA8 won the downsized three-way 10 p.m. competition in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 had twin wins at 6 a.m. TEGNA8 and CBS11 tied for the most viewers at 6 p.m. while Fox4 and NBC shared the top spot among 25-to-54-year-olds.

At 5 p.m. the golds went to NBC5 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 measurement.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterNot nearly as dramatic as Game 1 -- and more than two hours shorter -- Game 2 of the World Series nonetheless ranked as Wednesday’s top draw among the Big Four broadcast networks.

The Kansas City Royals’ 7-1 over the New York Mets on Fox averaged 290,378 D-FW viewers and 111,150 in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic. In comparison, the previous Wednesday’s episode of the Fox blockbuster Empire amassed 502,850 total viewers, with 263,583 in the 18-to-49 age range.

In the broadcast network arena, NBC’s 7 p.m. episode of The Mysteries of Laura had the most total D-FW viewers opposite the World Series with 198,307. Among 18-to-49-year-olds, ABC’s 8 p.m. episode of Modern Family was the runner-up with 66,690.

On Fox Sports Southwest, the Dallas Mavericks opened their season with a late night road win at Phoenix. The game drew just 63,742 total viewers and 28,581 in the 18-to-49 motherlode.

Here are Wednesday’s local news derby results on the eve of the November “sweeps” ratings period.

TEGNA8 won at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m. and NBC5 did likewise at 6 p.m. Fox4 had the most total viewers at 5 p.m. and tied NBC5 for the lead among 25-to-54-year-olds.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterA leadoff inside the park home run, a 4th inning power failure that knocked out Fox’s pictures, a game-tying ninth inning homer and 14 innings before the Kansas City Royals finally walked off with a win against the New York Mets.

Otherwise, Game 1 of the World Series had nothing.

It ran from 7:07 p.m. to 12:18 a.m., mostly on Fox but partly on MLB International after “technical difficulties” (two blown generators) at least served to temporarily silence irksome analyst Harold Reynolds. The ratings in D-FW began dwindling after 11 p.m. while the first two hours of Game 1 sequentially were outdrawn by CBS’ NCIS and NBC’s The Voice. Too bad, because this one ranked right up there with the best opening games in World Series history. And in fact, might be at the very top of the list.

The entire Game 1 averaged 290,378 viewers, with peak crowds of 361,202 between 9:15 and 930 p.m. and 10 and 10:15 p.m. In the last full 15-minute increment (midnight to 12:15 a.m.), the audience had dipped to 184,142 viewers.

Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, Game 1 outdrew everything except NBC’s 8 p.m. edition of The Voice. Overall it averaged 117,501 viewers in this key demographic. The Voice pulled in 136,555 viewers in the 18-to-49 realm.

ABC’s latest new series premiere, the serial killer drama Wicked City, pretty much got buried alive in the 9 p.m. hour. It ran a distant fourth among the Big Four broadcast networks with 77,906 total viewers, but tied CBS’ competing Limitless for third place with 18-to-49-year-olds (47,636 apiece).

Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results, with the November “sweeps” ratings period starting on Thursday.

NBC5 and Fox4 collected all the spoils. The Peacock won a downsized three-way 10 p.m. race in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

NBC5 also swept the 6 p.m. competitions and added a 5 p.m. win in total viewers. Fox4 as usual ran the table at 6 a.m. and also ran first at 5 p.m. in the 25-to-54 measurement.

The 7:30 p.m. launch, following an episode of The Big Bang Theory, drew 276,214 D-FW viewers to finish second in its one-hour time slot behind NBC’s The Voice (446,191 viewers for the 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. portion).

That’s a big gap between these two attractions, but Supergirl did manage to conquer two other formidable foes, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and ESPN’s Monday Night Football game between the Arizona Cardinals and Baltimore Ravens.

Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, Supergirl slipped a notch to third place between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. behind The Voice and MNF.

From 9 to 10 p.m., the last hour of CBS’ extended Scorpion episode edged NBC’s Blindspot in total viewers but ran well behind the Peacock’s freshman drama series in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic. MNF beat both of them, though, to rank No.1 in the final hour of prime-time.

Monday’s runaway prime-time loss leader among the Big Four broadcast networks again was Fox’s 8 p.m. episode of Minority Report. It had just 35,412 total viewers and 19,054 in the 18-to-49 age range. With the November “sweeps” ratings period firing up this Thursday, Minority Report might well get yanked before getting another Monday night berth. It’s a behemoth, though, compared to The CW’s 7 p.m. episode of the critically praised Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which had a mega-sickly 1,416 total viewers and “hashmarks” (no measurable audience) in the 18-to-49 measurement.

In the late night ratings, Stephen Colbert’s Late Show returned to CBS after a week off and took another pasting from Jimmy Fallon’s NBC Tonight Show. Fallon had 198,307 total viewers to Colbert’s 70,824. And among 18-to-49-year-olds, the score was 79,393 viewers to 15,879, with Colbert also slightly outdrawn by ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel (19,054 viewers) in this key demographic.

Here are Monday’s local news derby results.

TEGNA8 nipped NBC5 to win in total viewers at 10 p.m., but the Peacock dominated among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 again ran the table at 6 a.m., with TEGNA8 rising to the No. 2 spot in both audience measurements.

TEGNA8 swept the 6 p.m. competitions. At 5 p.m., the golds went to NBC5 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 demographic.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterThe Dallas Cowboys’ mistake-pocked 27-20 loss to the New York Giants returned Fox to the ratings stratosphere Sunday after three weeks worth of a bye and games on two rival networks.

Cowboys-Giants, which ran until 6:21 p.m., averaged 1,423,562 D-FW viewers and 631,964 in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic. This season’s record is still the Oct. 4th overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. It drew 1,593,540 total viewers and 746,290 in the 18-to-49 motherlode.

The season-opening Cowboys win against the Giants, also on Sunday Night Football, outdrew Fox’s rematch with 1,485,462 total viewers and 690,682 in the 18-to-49 realm.

Sunday’s runner-up attraction, NBC’s prime-time game between the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles, had 531,180 total viewers, with 269,935 of them 18-to-49-year-olds. The most-watched non-football attraction, Fox’s annual “Treehouse of Horror” edition of The Simpsons, weighed in with 269,131 total viewers from 7 to 7:30 p.m. It also led with 18-to-49-year-olds (133,379).

Saturday’s college football parade was paced by ESPN’s prime-time Texas A&M-Mississippi game, which averaged 212,472 total viewers. Before Ole Miss whipped the Aggies, 191,225 viewers watched Oklahoma demolish Texas Tech on ABC. And before that, Texas won a late morning/early afternoon game against Kansas State that drew 141,648 viewers to Fox Sports 1.

On to Friday, where the most-watched prime-time programs were CBS’ Blue Bloods in total viewers (283,296) and Fox4’s competing 9 p.m. local newscast in the 18-to-49 demographic (73,041). Being fueled by heavy bad weather coverage no doubt helped. Still, Fox4’s news high-jumped from the meager 9,527 viewers in the 18-to-49 realm who watched Fox’s preceding Rosewood rerun.

Here are Friday’s local news derby results.

CBS11 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 ran first with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. competitions and added a 6 p.m. win in the 25-to-54 demographic. NBC had the most total viewers at 6 p.m.

The 5 p.m. golds went to NBC5 in total viewers and TEGNA8 in the 25-to-54 measurement.

Thursday Night Football on CBS averaged 339,955 D-FW viewers and the NFL Network simulcast tacked on another 56,669. Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, the night-long winning numbers were 174,664 viewers on CBS and an extra 22,230 on NFL Net.

ABC’s 7 p.m. episode of Grey’s Anatomy, which dodged part of Thursday Night Football, was the distant runner-up in total viewers with 177,060. The long-running hospital soaper also ran second with 18-to-49-year-olds (85,744).

Here are Thursday’s local news derby results.

TEGNA8 won the downsized 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 as usual scored twin wins at 6 a.m. At 6 p.m., NBC5 and TEGNA8 tied for the most total viewers but the Peacock was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds.

NBC5 nipped Fox4 for the total viewers lead at 5 p.m. while TEGNA8 prevailed with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net

LOCAL TV NEWS NOTE: Readers periodically have asked why co-host Brooke Thomas hasn’t been on CW33’s early morning Eye Opener of late. Sources at the station say she’s left to pursue other opportunities and is no longer with the program. Thomas’ social media pages on Facebook and Twitter still make no mention of her departure.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterFox loves Wednesday nights. As do its many stations with local newscasts in the last hour of prime-time.

Empire again ruled with an iron fist, amassing 502,850 D-FW viewers in the 8 p.m. hour before Fox4’s local newscast held onto enough of that audience (347,038 viewers) to likewise romp in the 9 p.m. slot. Fox’s lead-off hitter, Rosewood, which also serves as a warm-up-the-TV appetizer, had just enough juice to win at 7 p.m. over CBS’ competing Survivor.

All three programs also ran first among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, with Empire leading the way in a big way with 263,583. Survivor drew the most 18-to-49-year-olds of any competing network attraction. But its 98,447 viewers in the 18-to-49 range were far less than half of Empire’s total in this key demographic.

Oh yeah, baseball. The New York Mets’ Wednesday night closeout of the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS series averaged 113,318 total viewers on TBS, with 53,987 in the 18-to-49 motherlode. On FS1 during daytime hours, the Toronto Blue Jays’ ALCS win over the Kansas City Royals had 49,577 total viewers and a sub-puny 6,351 in the 18-to-49 sweet spot. They’ll play another game on Friday, with the Royals still leading the series three games to two. The ALCS winner will face the Mets in the World Series next week on Fox. Is a game scheduled on Empire night? Yes. Will it draw even half of Empire’s audience in D-FW? Very likely not.

Here are Wednesday’s local news derby results.

NBC5 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 prevailed with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterNBC collected most of the prime-time spoils Tuesday, almost sweeping the field in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic while outdrawing everything except CBS’ NCIS in total D-FW viewers.

NCIS led off with 354,120 total viewers while NBC’s The Voice (368,285) and Chicago Fire (177,06) controlled the 8 to 10 p.m. hours. Among 18-to-49-year-olds, ABC’s It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown edged the first half of NBC’s Best Time Ever from 7 to 7:30 p.m. before BTE, The Voice and Chicago Fire won the rest of the night.

Major League Baseball’s ALCS and NLCS games again bunted along. The Kansas City Royals’ 14-2 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays barely registered with 63,742 total viewers in daytime hours on FS1. The New York Mets’ 5-2 win over the Chicago Cubs then drew an average of 113,318 viewers on TBS.

Mets-Cubs did manage to beat Fox’s Scream Queens, which had 63,742 viewers in the 8 p.m. hour while also placing last with 18-to-49-year-olds among all prime-time attractions on the Big Four broadcast networks.

Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results.

NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11 tied for the top spot in total viewers at 10 p.m., but the Peacock nipped Fox4 for the lead among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions while the 6 p.m. golds were split between TEGNA8 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 realm.

At 5 p.m., Fox4 and NBC5 tied for the most total viewers and Fox4 won outright with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Huffman, a native of Oklahoma, spent the previous two years as a gumshoe at CBS-owned KYW-TV in Philadelphia. She left the station early this month, saying in an Oct. 13th post on her Facebook page, “Hey Philly! Yes, it is true! Although I have loved my time at CBS3 I have left Philadelphia in order to pursue another opportunity.”

Philly.com says Huffman “confirmed” that her contract was not renewed by KYW, but that she left on “great” terms anyway. Huffman, in a subsequent email reply, said that’s inaccurate.

“KYW was going to renew my contract but I already had an offer from WFAA,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to return to Dallas and work for WFAA (which is owned by TEGNA).”

TEGNA8 news director Carolyn Mungo, who did not return an email inquiry from unclebarky.com, told the industry website tvspy.com that Huffman is scheduled to start in mid-December.

Before joining KYW, Huffman worked at WNCN-TV in Raleigh, NC. She’s a graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas and also has been a reporter for KETK-TV in Tyler, TX and KDFX-TV in Wichita Falls, TX.

“This move really brings me full circle,” Huffman said. “In journalism school, I used to watch Byron’s investigations and think, ‘That’s exactly what I want to do one day.’ Now I’ll be doing it in a community that I already know and love. It’s an honor to be filling the position of someone who inspired me to get into this business in the first place. Do I have some big shoes to fill? Absolutely. But am I up for the challenge? You bet.”

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterGame 3 of major league baseball’s ALCS between the Blue Jays and Royals was barely a pop fly against Monday Night Football’s Eagles-Giants regular season game.

ESPN’s most popular sporting attraction averaged 354,120 D-FW viewers and 174,664 in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic. Baseball on FS1 limped in with 77,906 total viewers and 31,757 in the 18-to-49 age range.

That made football prime-time’s biggest draw among 18-to-49-year-olds. In total viewers, MNF shared the lead with CBS’ 7 p.m. episode of The Big Bang Theory.

At the other end of the Nielsen ratings teeter totter, Fox’s 8 p.m. hour of Minority Report again hit bottom with just 42,494 total viewers and 15,879 in the 18-to-49 demographic. Fox4’s following 9 p.m. local newscast pole-vaulted to 155,813 total viewers but still ran fourth behind entertainment programming on CBS, ABC and NBC. CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles was the top non-football draw at that hour with 219,554 viewers.

Among 18-to-49-year-olds, Fox4’s local news improved to a second place finish in the Big Four broadcast network competition, trailing only NBC’s Blindspot. On Wednesday nights, Fox4’s news reaps the bounteous dividends from an Empire lead-in. On Monday, it inherits a virtual ratings desert, with Minority Report digging too big a hole to overcome.

Here are Monday’s four-way local news derby results.

TEGNA8 won in total viewers at 10 p.m., edging CBS11 and NBC5. But the Peacock romped among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 enjoyed another doubleheader win at 6 a.m. while also taking the 5 and 6 p.m. golds among 25-to-54-year-olds. TEGNA8 ran first in total viewers at 6 p.m. and tied Fox4 for first place at 5 p.m.

In this case, a viewer of Fort Worth-based NBC5 kept wanting to know what happened to reporter Christine Lee and “the blonde chick that was the Plano correspondent.”

Lee still lists herself on social media as a reporter for NBC5, but is no longer with the station, vice president of programming Brian Hocker confirmed via email. Nor is the “blonde chick” in question, who’s Catherine Ross.

“That’s all there is to report here,” Hocker said.

There’s a wider story, though. And institutional memory served me in this case. Back in March. 2012, unclebarky.com reported on a tidal wave of eight new NBC5 reporters, “the bulk of them” hired in 2011 according to former news director Susan Tully, who in June became president and general manager of NBC-owned WVIT-TV in Connecticut.

The additions were part of a corporate-wide initiative to add more than 130 newsroom employees to NBC Universal’s 10 owned-and-operated stations, which include NBC5. Five of the eight newcomers were assigned to specific North Texas community beats and also required to live in those areas. Lee, for instance, was responsible for Irving and Grand Prairie while Ross worked out of Plano.

“All of the stations talk about doing local news well,” Hocker said at the time. “We’re saying that clearly these cities are capable of generating enough local news that they deserve their own reporter. And that’s why we’re doing this.”

Mola Lenghi -- He also left NBC5 in October 2013 and now is a reporter for WUSA-TV, the CBS station in Washington, D.C.

Sara Story, who’s now reclaimed her original surname of Loeffelholz (Denton beat) -- She’s currently senior coordinator , corporate communications for the Kinder Morgan energy company in Houston after leaving NBC5 in January 2013.

Christine Lee (Irving/Grand Prairie beat) -- No current occupation could be found.

During that big hiring splurge, NBC5 had a total of 35 full-time news, weather, sports and traffic personnel. WFAA8 (before it was bought by Gannett/TEGNA) and CBS11 each had 30 full-timers and Fox4 had 28.

That total actually has increased during the past four years, with NBC5’s official website now picturing 36 news, weather, sports and traffic staffers, plus Chopper 5 photojournalist Ames Meyer and longtime entertainment reporter Bobbie Wygant, who’s been at NBC5 in some capacity since the station went on the air in 1948.

It’s otherwise been a sea of change -- at least in terms of NBC5’s street reporting staff. So much so that Van Horne now finds himself a comparative elder statesman after all seven of his original contemporaries have hit the road and made him the last man standing.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterSunday’s presentation of the latest Kovacs Award didn’t end up being entirely bungled. But it sure could have gone much better.

The honor, given in memory of trailblazing television comedian Ernie Kovacs, has become the centerpiece of the annual Dallas VideoFest, which just wrapped its 28th year. As such, it merited far more organization and preparation than was apparent late Sunday afternoon and early evening at the Angelika Film Center.

Chris Elliott, who flew in Sunday, was this year’s recipient along with his 92-year-old father, Bob, who was supposed to appear via Skype from his home. That never happened -- for two reasons.

No. 1, organizers waited until virtually the last minute to hook up with Bob. They had a host of problems before finally establishing both video and audio contact. By that time the scheduled 4:30 p.m. presentation already had been delayed for about a half-hour, with attendees left to wait outside the Angelika’s Theater 3. Unfortunately, organizers then decided they’d call Bob back after his son was introduced.

Then came the worst -- namely a “performance artist” who bills himself as Professor R. Mutt. While Chris sat in a front row seat, Mutt went on for a seeming eternity -- actually about 15 minutes -- with what he calls his Duchampaphon. Basically it’s two spinning bicycle wheels producing sounds that “range from serene to cacophanus.” While this went on, Mutt also talked, mostly unintelligibly, through a microphone with flashing lights. It was akin to warming up the audience with readings from a furnace repair manual.

The crowd grew restive as time further slipped away. Finally came the video introduction of Bob (part of the vintage Bob and Ray comedy team) and Chris. This turned out to be very nicely done, but should have been done immediately. Chris then finally took the stage while his father apparently gave up and couldn’t be reached even when his son dialed his personal home phone. So the opportunity was lost to hear stories from the man who greatly admired Kovacs and likewise had a free-form TV show during the medium’s formative years in the early 1950s.

“This came out of the blue,” Chris said of sharing the Kovacs Award with his father. “I just never ever expected to be honored with something like this . . . I’m not worthy of this. My dad is worthy of it.” Sharing is meant literally. Only one award (pictured above) was made for the two of them.

“You know, Bart, I’m not your performing monkey,” Chris shot back in a way that was more good-humored than it may look in print. Noting that he sat through “a lot of shit” before finally being asked to the stage, he referenced “the bicycle thing” as exactly what he meant. Earlier in the presentation, Chris said, “I feel like my teeth were drilled for two hours.” Pause, one-two. “That’s a good thing.”

He remained amiable under duress, telling amusing stories about both the problematic making of Cabin Boy (on a budget lopped from $30 million to $9 million when original director Tim Burton decided to make Ed Wood instead) and the dawn of his decidedly offbeat characters on NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman.

Letterman let him do anything he wanted during the course of eventually promoting him from a Late Night gofer to a staff writer, Chris said. “That’s why a lot of it is just awful.” Actually it’s mostly anything but, even if Chris now says he has no memory at all of playing one of his recurring drop-in characters, The Laid Back Guy.

Chris repeatedly expressed both his appreciation of the Kovacs Award and his disappointment that his father ended up not being a part of it. It was his first visit to Dallas, he said. “When does the next flight leave?” he joked (more or less) after noting how the city had made him feel at home -- if only for four hours.

Reached Monday, Weiss said via email that “I made a bad choice (in Mutt) and he played way too long given that we were late. I clearly made a mistake.”

Mistakes happen, and the two previous Kovacs Award presentations (to Laugh-In creator George Schlatter and comedian Harry Shearer of This Is Spinal Tap fame) were both pretty much on time, well-run and very entertaining. The Chris without Bob Elliott ceremony also had its moments -- except that too many of them were unfortunate. The Dallas VideoFest can and must do much better the next time.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterAbsent the Dallas Cowboys, who were on their bye week, Sunday Night Football’s marquee matchup between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts became the center ring sports attraction.

The game averaged 580,757 D-FW viewers, roughly half the crowd for the previous Sunday’s Cowboys-Patriots matchup on CBS. More than half those viewers -- 304,867 -- were in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

Sunday night’s game two of baseball’s National League Championship Series between the Mets and the Cubs never had a serious chance. It averaged 77,906 total viewers on TBS, with 31,757 in the 18-to-49 age range. AMC’s 8 p.m. episode of The Walking Dead had respective totals of 269,131 and 187,366 viewers.

CBS’ late afternoon/early evening NFL game, with the Green Bay Packers outlasting the San Diego Chargers, was the day’s No. 2 draw with an average of 566,592 total viewers and 241,353 in the 18-to-49 realm. It was picked up in progress after CBS aired the conclusion of Denver’s overtime win over Cleveland.

Saturday’s college football ratings were led by Alabama’s afternoon pasting of Texas A&M. The game averaged 290,378 total viewers on CBS. NBC’s Saturday Night Live, with Tracy Morgan returning to host after a long recovery from a near-fatal car accident, drew 212,472 total viewers.

On Friday night, Fox’s prime-time telecast of game one of the American League Championship Series (Royals vs. Blue Jays) averaged 141,648 total viewers and 53,987 in the 18-to-49 motherlode.

In total viewers, it ran behind CBS’ regular lineup of The Amazing Race, Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods while also being outdrawn by ABC’s Dr. Ken and Shark Tank. Among 18-to-49-year-olds, baseball got outscored by Dr. Ken and Shark Tank and NBC’s Undateable and premiere of Truth Be Told. The ALCS tied ABC’s 20/20 for first place with 18-to-49-year-olds in the 9 p.m. hour.

Baseball also took it in the teeth on Thursday night with the deciding game five between the Mets and Dodgers. It averaged 92,071 total viewers on TBS compared to the combined 396,614 who watched Thursday Night Football (Saints vs. Falcons) on CBS and the NFL Network.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on Twitter From the mind of Chris Elliott on page 119 of his “unauthorized” 2012 autobiography, The Guy Under the Sheets:

“Chris suddenly found himself on a treadmill. Every day was marked by the same relentless routine: he rolled out of bed before dawn, stumbled into his bathroom, lit up a Gitane (his latest addiction), and jumped into a piping-hot tub of lard. Then after downing a few nips of schnapps and popping a handful of Mrs. Paul’s tartar pills (a more concentrated version of the over-the-counter stuff), he slathered his entire body in motor oil, which gave him the swarthy macho appearance he had longed for ever since he first saw Shaft.”

Clearly he’s eminently qualified to be this year’s recipient of the Kovacs Award, named after decidedly off-center TV pathfinder Ernie Kovacs. Chris, 55, will accept the honor in person late Sunday afternoon at the Dallas Video Festival while his father, Bob, 92, will join him via Skype. Showtime is 4:30 p.m. at the Angelika Film Center, 5321 East Mockingbird Lane in Dallas (75206).

Chris, father of former Saturday Night Live regular Abby Elliott, broke into television as David Letterman’s favorite performance artist during the early years of his NBC Late Night show. Bob, in tandem with comedy partner Ray Goulding, worked in television during some of the same years Kovacs did. The oft-improvisational Bob and Ray aired from 1951 to 1953 on NBC. The show also featured Audrey Meadows and Cloris Leachman.

Chris regaled Letterman with an assortment of recurring characters and impersonations. He’d pop in on a moment’s notice as The Regulator Guy, The Panicky Guy, The Fugitive Guy, The Conspiracy Guy and The Guy Under the Seats as well as doing sendups of Marlon Brando, Jay Leno, Marv Albert, Morton Downey Jr. and others. His 1993 feature film Cabin Boy, a decidedly acquired taste, marks the only time Letterman has been seen on the big screen as a character other than himself.

Chris made the film after his 1990 Fox TV series, Get A Life (which co-starred his real-life father), failed to capture the country by storm. Chris has never really captured anything by storm, but his comedy has never been built for widespread acceptance. Years later, though, it still seems fresh as a daisy -- or perhaps a jar of refrigerated mayonnaise. Something like that.

Chris’s dad made sure his son grew up knowing what was important and what wasn’t.

“It was, ‘Dad, I gotta do homework,’ “ Chris recalled during a 1987 interview with your friendly content provider. “He’d say, ‘Well, let’ watch some TV first, young man.’ The TV was always on, from the early evening news to The Tonight Show, when I fell asleep.”

We talked in a Las Vegas showroom on the day after Chris graced a Late Night road show with his portrayal of Skylark, a fictional Chris Elliott impersonator who’d been appearing in Kenny Kerr’s “Boy-lesque” revue at the Silver Slipper.

“Bad TV, that’s where I find most of my stuff, yeah,” he said. “The Mannixes and the Cannons and the Medical Centers are sort of gold mines for me. My goal is to have my own cop drama one of these years. I’d definitely like to have my own kind of Mannix show.”

During his last appearance with Letterman earlier this year, Chris briefly became legitimately choked up while telling his benefactor that “everything that I have is thanks to you.” Letterman in turn praised him as the “funniest man I’ve ever worked with” before Chris performed “To Dave with Love.”

We’ll close with that clip and a companion one of Bob and Ray in a “Television Referee” sketch from their early 1950s TV show. Both are positively Kovacs-ian, as Ernie never said.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterCelebrating Halloween early with a seventh inning horror show, the Texas Rangers bumbled their way out of the post-season Wednesday while also costing D-FW’s Fox4 some big ratings paydays had they made it all the way to the World Series.

The 6-3 Game 5 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays aired on FS1 from shortly after 3 p.m. until 6:44 p.m. Ratings built throughout the day and early evening, with a peak crowd of 602,004 D-FW viewers between 6:15 and 6:30 p.m.

The entire game averaged 375,367 viewers to rank second among the five Rangers-Jays face-offs. Only one of the games was in prime-time. And Sunday’s nighttime Game 3 on FS1 easily drew the biggest crowd of 531,180 viewers. Playing Toronto, whose ratings don’t count in the U.S. average, had a lot to do with Major League Baseball’s decision to under-expose the Rangers-Blue Jays series. But most D-FW denizens were better off not seeing Wednesday’s seventh inning, in which Texas made three consecutive infield errors for openers and eventually left a 3-2 lead in the dirt.

The Rangers weren’t Wednesday’s biggest overall ratings draw. That prize again went to Fox’s Empire, which amassed 538,262 viewers in the 8 p.m. hour. More than half of them -- 279,462 -- were in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

For the first time, though, Empire couldn’t quite prop up Fox’s lead-in program, Rosewood. It was edged in total viewers -- 198,307 to 191,225 -- by CBS’ competing Survivor. But Rosewood did beat Survivor by a thin margin among 18-to-49-year-olds.

Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast again very much enjoyed Empire’s tailwind. It drew 368,285 total viewers (a huge number for a local newscast) while also breezing to an easy win with 18-to-49-year-olds. How easy? The competing 9 p.m. network programs, CBS’ Code Black, ABC’s Nashville and NBC’s Chicago P.D., had a combined audience of 158,785 viewers in the 18-to-49 motherlode. Fox4’s news drew 170,505.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterCNN’s first 2015 Democratic presidential debate Tuesday night couldn’t be expected to outdraw NBC’s The Voice or any portion of CBS’ NCIS. And it didn’t.

Still, Hillary, Bernie and those three other guys won the 9 p.m. hour and all in all drew a very nice crowd for a Q & A & byplay that ran from 7:50 to 10:02 p.m. Overall the debate averaged 262,049 D-FW viewers, with a rather skimpy 76,217 of them in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

CBS opened prime-time with the usual strong performance from NCIS, which had the most total viewers in the 7 p.m. hour (389,532) and edged NBC’s Best Time Ever among 18-to-49-year-olds by a score of 92,095 to 82,568.

The Voice then controlled the 8 p.m. hour with respective totals of 361,202 and 133,379 viewers before the debate kicked in.

Fox’s 8 p.m. episode of Scream Queens again fell off the prime-time map with the lowest viewer totals among the Big 4 broadcast networks save for ABC’s 9 p.m. rerun of the over-used Shark Tank. Scream Queens drew 56,659 total viewers and 38,108 in the 18-to-49 age range. That’s a very solid percentage of viewers in this key demographic, but it’s also a slice of a very low overall total.

Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results.

NBC5 and TEGNA8 tied for the most total viewers at 10 p.m., even though the latter station got a junk lead-in audience from Shark Tank while NBC5 had triple the crowd from 9:45 to 10 p.m. for its network’s season premiere of Chicago Fire. NBC5 had first place to itself among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.

Fox4 won at 6 a.m. in total viewers and shared first place with NBC5 in the 25-to-54 demographic.

The Peacock ran the table at 5 p.m. while TEGNA8 did likewise at 6 p.m.

LOCAL TV NEWS NOTE: Eric King, who had been part of an anchor triumvirate on NBC5’s weekday early morning newscasts, has been “reassigned to do more general reporting throughout the day,” a station spokesman confirms. Deborah Ferguson and Marc Fein remain at the crack-of-dawn anchor desk.

CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves is still a good talker. CNBC photo

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterThe latter day conventional wisdom on TV ratings, as recited by network chieftains and programmers, is that they don’t really count anymore until all the delayed viewing is added up.

CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves was the latest to dismiss the so-called “overnight” Nielsen numbers on the Tuesday, Oct. 13th edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box.

“Unfortunately, a lot of the media, a lot of the analysts continue to write about ‘overnights.’ Overnights are virtually meaningless,” Moonves said. “Because now so much more of the viewing is delayed by three days. You’re getting it online, you’re getting it by DVR.”

That’s all well and good if you’re a network looking to maximize profits. Typical was this Monday publicity release on behalf of the new CBS drama series Limitless.

The Sept. 22nd premiere of Limitless averaged a same-day national audience of 9.86 million viewers but “has jumped to more than 17.6 million viewers with the inclusion of 7-day DVR playback, the unduplicated audience from an encore broadcast and 14 days of video-on-demand/online streaming,” CBS says.

Well, big whoop. But you know who’s not impressed at all by those numbers? Local CBS stations across the land, including CBS11 in D-FW. Limitless, which airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. (central time), provides the lead-in for local late night newscasts. So the only number that really counts for them is what Limitless does in its first airing. Anyone who’s watching Limitless on immediate DVR playback is not catching the 10 p.m. news on CBS11. Nor are those who wait until the next day or next week to look at it.

Those in-show teases for stories you just can’t miss have a very short shelf life. If you aren’t watching and aren’t hooked, then buh-bye lead-in afterglow. The great, great, great majority of local news viewers watch their newscasts live. Do you know anyone who regularly DVRs them for later viewing -- other than idiots like me who occasionally post content analysis pieces on this site?

The Big Four broadcast network titans don’t think this way, but you can bet that local station executives do. For example, let’s look at Monday’s D-FW “overnight” ratings for the 9 p.m. network lead-in shows.

NBC’s Blindspot drew the largest number of viewers and pulled in 290,378 for the closing 9:45 to 10 p.m. segment that leads directly to local newscasts.

TEGNA8, an ABC affiliate, is still the most reliable newscast ratings performer at 10 p.m. and will usually rank first in total viewers if the lead-ins are on a fairly equal footing. But on Monday, the last 15 minutes of ABC’s 9 p.m. Castle drew barely half the number of viewers -- 148,730 -- that Blindspot did. NBC5’s 10 p.m. newscast then capitalized by ranking No. 1 with 189,767 viewers. TEGNA8 made up some ground but couldn’t quite overcome the Castle effect. The station finished second with 162,895 viewers.

The live “lead-in” effect comes into play almost every night to some degree. Never more so than on Wednesdays, when Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast sups on the bounteous ratings feast provided by an Empire lead-in.

Look at last Wednesday. The 8:45 to 9 p.m. segment of Empire amassed 502,850 viewers before Fox4’s following newscast comfortably won the 9 p.m. hour with 226,637 viewers. That’s a pretty steep drop-off and Fox4 clearly would like to do even better. Still, beating first-run network entertainment programming is a considerable plus.

Now let’s check out last Tuesday night, when Fox served up the little-watched Scream Queens as a lead-in for Fox4’s news. The closing 15 minutes of Scream Queens drew a paltry 56,659 viewers. Fox4’s newscast trampolined to 127,483 total viewers but still finished in a distant second place tie behind CBS’ competing Limitless, which had 212,472 viewers after coming off a bullish lead-in from CBS’ NCIS: New Orleans.

One more example. Last Friday’s top-rated 9 p.m. show, CBS’ Blue Bloods, fed 219,554 viewers to CBS11’s news, which then easily won its time slot. NBC5’s 10 p.m. newscast received the night’s skimpiest 9:45 to 10 p.m. lead-in from NBC’s Dateline. Guess where it finished? Fourth.

So yeah. Fox can crow all it wants in a publicity release about how Scream Queens increased its premiere audience by 80 percent with its “massive streaming audience” in the first three days since its Sept. 22nd launch. Therefore it’s “a model for contemporary viewership,” says Fox in addition to generating a whole lot of tweets.

“It also represents exactly what we strive for as a company,” Fox Television Group chairmen and CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman added in a joint statement. “Bold, distinctive, original programming that is launched on the network, travels through owned platforms like Fox Now and Hulu -- as well as our MVPD partner VOD platforms -- and then can migrate to our library.”

Trust me. Local station managements don’t really care if a show “travels” well. They want instant gratification every week on the designated night at the designated time. Not that they can say anything publicly. Fox4, NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11 all are owned from afar, with only TEGNA not tied to a specific network. In terms of late night local newscasts -- and other “dayparts” as well -- lead-in programs remain the straws that stir the drinks. Watch them now, not later. There’s still considerable value to that, even if the network czars increasingly are looking the other way.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterPick your poison. Either way Monday afternoon and evening, Texas Rangers’ fans were subjected to the virtually non-stop and extraordinarily annoying analysis of Harold Reynolds during a time share on the MLB network and FS1.

Game 4 of the ALDS series, won 8-4 by the visiting Toronto Blue Jays, began shortly after 3 p.m. on MLB instead of FS1 after the Houston Astros’ late inning meltdown versus the Kansas City Royals ran longer than expected. Rangers-Blue Jays then shifted to FS1 at 4:24 p.m., with the game ending at 6:25 p.m.

On MLB, the Rangers averaged 113,318 D-FW viewers. The two-hour FS1 portion then perked up to an average of 262,049 viewers, with a peak audience of 297,461 for the game’s closing minutes.

Ratings clearly are being deflated by the mostly afternoon weekday starting times and the relatively obscure networks televising the Rangers-Blue Jays series. Both of the National League’s best of five post-game series are airing on the appreciably more visible TBS network, which is included in virtually every basic cable or satellite provider package. Wednesday’s deciding Game 5 of the Rangers-Blue Jays face-off also is scheduled as a mid-afternoon day game on FS1.

Elsewhere Monday, CBS’ 7 p.m. episode of The Big Bang Theory again led all prime-time programming with 460,356 total viewers and 203,245 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

The closing 90 minutes of NBC’s The Voice then took over with time slot wins in both audience measurements. At 9 p.m., the Peacock’s Blindspot stayed strong with a pair of wins in competition among the Big Four broadcast networks. Fox’s Minority Report, which may not make it until the November “sweeps” ratings period, continued to rank as Monday’s least-watched prime-time show among the Big Four. Monday’s episode drew just 63,742 total viewers and 31,757 in the 18-to-49 realm.

The CW’s 7 p.m. premiere of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend bombed with 14,165 total viewers and 6,351 in the 18-to-49 motherlode. The following Season 2 launch of Jane the Virgin on the CW trampolined to 28,581 viewers in the latter audience demographic.

On ESPN, the Monday Night Football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers averaged 269,131 total viewers, with an 18-to-49 haul of 136,555.

Here are Monday’s local news derby results.

NBC5 swept the 10 p.m. competitions with wins in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 nipped TEGNA8 for the most total viewers at 6 a.m. while the two stations tied for the most 25-to-54-year-olds.

Fox4 ran the table at 5 p.m. NBC5 and TEGNA8 shared the total viewers lead at 6 p.m., with the Peacock alone on top among 25-to-54-year-olds.

New England pasted the Cowboys 30-6 on CBS in a game that ran until 6:28 p.m. and averaged 1,175,678 viewers. That barely bested the season low of 1,154,431 viewers for Fox’s noon-starting Sept. 27th loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

Over on FS1, the Rangers 5-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 3 of the ALDS finished at 10:18 p.m. and drew an average of 531,180 viewers. The Cowboys’ crowd peaked at 1,274,832 viewers from 4:45 to 5 p.m. and the Rangers hit a high point of 658,663 viewers between 7:45 and 8 p.m.

Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, Cowboys-Patriots averaged 514,463 viewers while the Rangers clocked in with an average of 260,407 viewers in that key audience demographic.

The Rangers easily outdrew head-to-head competition from NBC’s down-to-the-wire Sunday Night Football game between the New York Giants and San Francisco Giants. It averaged 347,038 total viewers and 187,366 in the 18-to-49 age range.

Two new ABC drama series, Blood & Oil and Quantico, had a tough time in direct competition with both the Rangers game and Sunday Night Football. They respectively averaged 92,071 and 113,318 total viewers from 8 to 10 p.m. But Fox took the biggest total viewers hit in Sunday’s prime-time Nielsens. Its most-watched show, The Simpsons, had just 70,824 viewers. Still, The Simpsons and Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Family Guy all lured more 18-to-49-year-olds than either Blood & Oil or Quantico.

In the cable universe, AMC’s 90-minute Season 6 premiere of The Walking Dead re-opened with 325,790 total viewers and a very imposing 238,178 in the 18-to-49-year-old motherlode. No series on any network draws a higher percentage of 18-to-49-year-olds. In fact, nothing even comes close.

Saturday’s college football parade was paced by Texas’ upset win over Oklahoma in their annual State Fair showdown. Despite an inhospitable 11 a.m. start, the game averaged 375,367 total viewers on ABC. TCU’s big comeback win at Kansas State ranked No. 2 with an average of 269,131 viewers for Fox’s prime-time presentation.

Friday afternoon’s marathon 14-inning Rangers win over Toronto, which ridiculously started a little before noon on the MLB network, had a tough time getting noticed on a workday -- and on a relatively obscure network. The game drew a peak crowd of 325,790 viewers between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m. Overall, Rangers-Blue Jays averaged 191,225 viewers. (Nielsen Media Research representatives told unclebarky.com during the summer TV Critics Association “press tour” that Nielsen has given up on trying to measure workplace and sports bar viewing, etc. So there’s no real telling how many viewers caught the game via those means.)

Friday’s prime-time ratings were swept in total viewers by CBS’ regular lineup of The Amazing Race, Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods. Amazing Race also won with 18-to-49-year-olds before ABC’s Shark Tank and Fox4’s local news took the 8 to 10 p.m. hours.

NBC’s one-hour live season premiere of Undateable ran third from 7 to 8 p.m. in total viewers with 63,742, beating Fox’s Gotham rerun. Undateable outdrew only ABC’s 7 p.m. episode of Last Man Standing among 18-to-49-year-olds.

Here are Friday’s local news derby results.

CBS11 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 ran first with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and added a 5 p.m. win among 25-to-54-year-olds. NBC5 had the most total viewers at 5 p.m. while the 6 p.m. spoils were split between TEGNA8 in total viewers and CBS11 in the 25-to-54 demographic.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on Twitter For those not yet familiar with it, FS1 is neither a new high energy drink or a missile system.

It’s short for Fox Sports 1, where the Texas Rangers opened post-season play Thursday with a gritty 5-3 win in a day game at Toronto.

The still fledgling network was launched a little over two years ago, supplanting Speed. A good number of cable and satellite subscribers still don’t have it and Nielsen Media Research has given up on the idea of measuring sports bar and workplace viewing. All of which is prelude to saying that Thursday’s D-FW ratings show that CBS’Thursday Night Football game between the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans drew a larger viewing audience than Rangers-Blue Jays.

Running until 5:30 p.m., the Rangers game averaged 254,966 viewers with an escalating audience that peaked at 393,590 viewers for the closing 15-minute segment.

Later on Thursday, Colts-Texans averaged 276,214 viewers on CBS and drew another 70,824 on NFL Net for a grand total of 347,038 viewers. But the Rangers’ peak crowd nipped the high point for football, which drew 382,450 viewers between 8:15 and 8:30 p.m. on CBS/NFL Net.

The Rangers get an even earlier day game Friday on the MLB network before having to go against NBC’s Sunday Night Football with their first prime-time game (on FS1 again). Why such a kiss-off? In large part it’s because the TV audience in Toronto’s home market, which obviously will be inflated, is not included in the U.S. ratings average. All of the other post-season match ups have two U.S. teams competing, including the top three markets of New York (the Mets), Los Angeles (the Dodgers) and Chicago (the Cubs). D-FW is the fifth largest TV market.

Elsewhere in prime-time Thursday, NBC’s 7 p.m. episode of Heroes Reborn and Fox’s 8 p.m. hour of Bones tied for the fewest total viewers among the Big Four broadcast networks. Each show had 77,906 viewers. Heroes Reborn easily registered lowest among 18-to-49-year-olds with just 15,879 viewers in this key demographic.

Here are Thursday’s local news derby results.

TEGNA8 swept a downsized three-way competition at 10 p.m. with wins in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m. and also finished first with 25-to-54-year-olds at 5 and 6 p.m.

NBC5 had the most total viewers at 5 p.m. and TEGNA8 took the top spot in that measurement at 6 p.m.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterFox’s Empire continued to double the audience for any other Wednesday prime-time attraction. The preceding Rosewood and the succeeding Fox4 local newscast were happy to lap up the carryover ratings spoils.

Empire weighed in at 488,686 D-FW viewers, with 219,123 of them in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

Fox’s 7 p.m. entry, the first-year drama series Rosewood, again benefited in part from viewers “warming up” their sets for Empire. Its numbers are dropping, but Rosewood still had enough juice to win its hour with 205,390 total viewers and 101,622 in the 18-to-49 demographic. Rosewood had 155,813 total viewers in its 7 to 7:15 p.m. segment. But from 7:45 to 8 p.m., with viewers primed for Empire, that number spiked up to 276,214 viewers. Rosewood also upped its 18-to-49-year-old ratings in each quarter hour.

Fox4’s 9 p.m. local news held on to the top spot in that hour with 226,637 total viewers and 88,920 in the 18-to-49 motherlode. CBS’ second episode of the medical drama Code Black finished second at 9 p.m. in both ratings measurements.

CBS’ Late Show with Stephen Colbert, whose host arguably is devoting too much time to himself and not enough to his guests, took another fearsome beating Wednesday night.

NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon continued to get his first guest -- in this case Kate Winslet -- on the air roughly 10 minutes before Colbert stopped playing with himself and welcomed Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez to the desk. Fallon ended up rolling over Colbert in total viewers by a score of 106,236 to 42,494. ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! ran second with 77,906 viewers.

It was far worse for Colbert in the key 18-to-49 measurement. Fallon drew 47,636, Kimmel had 22,230 and Colbert drooped to 12,703.

Here are Wednesday’s local news derby results.

TEGNA8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and added first place finishes at 5 and 6 p.m. in the 25-to-54 realm. NBC5 took the other two golds with total viewer wins at 5 and 6 p.m.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterFormer Houston TV reporter Sonia Azad, who left that market’s KTRK-TV last March, has been hired by Dallas-based TEGNA8 to be the station’s new medical reporter.

Azad, who starts on Monday, Oct. 12th, will be trying to fill the very big void left by award-laden medical reporter Janet St. James, who left TEGNA8 in March to take an executive position with HCA North Texas. Before starting that job, St. James announced on her Facebook page that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She had been TEGNA8’s full-time medical reporter since 2000 after joining the station in 1996.

TEGNA8 news director Carolyn Mungo did not return an email inquiry Tuesday about Azad’s possible new position at the station. She instead confirmed Azad’s hiring Wednesday to Houston media blogger Mike McGuff, who also had been on the scent. His story is here.

“I see it as a big responsibility and it is a big honor to follow her (St. James) in this role,” Azad told McGuff. She has been out of television and worked as a full-time certified yoga instructor for the past seven months.

Mungo worked at both KHOU-TV and KRIV-TV in Houston before becoming TEGNA8’s news director in February 2012. TEGNA8 president and general manager Mike Devlin, who hired Mungo, had been her boss at KHOU.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterIt’s no surprise when CBS wins the total viewers battle on Tuesday nights with its NCIS-fueled lineup.

But surprise, surprise, the network also outdrew NBC’s The Voice among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds.

NCIS stated the night with 403,697 total D-FW viewers for NCIS before following up with an 8 to 9 p.m. win for its spinoff, NCIS: New Orleans (311,626). CBS’ new Limitless then prevailed in the 9 p.m. hour with 212,472 viewers.

The three CBS dramas also won their time slots in the 18-to-49 demographic, with The Voice slumping to third place in its 8 to 9 p.m. second hour behind ABC’s runner-up Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Fox’s 7 to 8 p.m. comedy combo of Grandfathered and The Grinder held steady with third place finishes in total viewers. And Grandfathered tied The Voice for second place with 18-to-49-year-olds from 7 to 7:30 p.m.

A hush then fell over Fox, with its third episode of Scream Queens again registering lowest among the Big Four broadcast networks in both total viewers (56,659) and 18-to-49-year-olds (22,230).

On ESPN, the Houston Astros’ wild card game win over the New York Yankees scored decently with 169,978 total viewers and 88,920 in the 18-to-49 motherlode.

Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results.

CBS11 won in total viewers at 10 p.m., but Fox4 ran a comfy first among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

TEGNA8 rose up to post a rare 6 a.m. win in total viewers while Fox4 had the most 25-to-54-year-olds.

CBS11 topped the total viewers Nielsens at 6 p.m. and Fox4 nipped TEGNA8 in the 25-to-54 measurement. TEGNA8 ran the table at 5 p.m.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on Twitter CBS’ The Big Bang Theory as usual put a dent in their dominance before ESPN’s Monday Night Football and NBC’s The Voice applied the ratings hammer.

Big Bang was D-FW’s top draw from 7 to 7:30 p.m. Monday in both total viewers (389,532) and advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds (133,379).

The Voice then won in total viewers from 7:30 to 9 p.m., edging the MNF game -- Seahawks vs. Lions -- during those 90 minutes. But MNF led throughout the rest of the night with 18-to-49-year-olds.

At 9 p.m., NBC’s Blindspot and CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles tied for the lead among non-football attractions with 226,637 total viewers apiece. Blindspot won comfortably in the 18-to-49 demographic in the Big Four broadcast network competition.

Monday’s least-watched attraction by far again was Fox’s Minority Report. Airing in the 8 p.m. hour, it drew just 56,659 total viewers and 19,054 in the 18-to-49 realm. Monday Night Football in comparison averaged 318,708 total viewers for the entire game and 174,664 in the 18-to-49 motherlode.

Here are Monday’s local news derby results.

TEGNA8 won at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 and NBC5 tied for the total viewers lead at 6 a.m., with Fox4 alone on top with 25-to-54-year-olds.

The Peacock ran the table at 6 p.m. and added a 5 p.m. win in total viewers. NBC5 shared the 5 p.m. gold with CBS11 in the 25-to-54 demographic.

This happened earlier in the day before the Cowboys lost in OT. Photo: Ed Bark

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterThe Texas Rangers won the AL West in a storybook season early Sunday evening before the Dallas Cowboys game at New Orleans ended like a grim fairytale.

Far, far, far more D-FW viewers watched the Cowboys, of course. The Rangers drew a nice crowd that grew throughout the game. But it still wasn’t a big enough audience to outdraw Fox’s competing Green Bay Packers-San Francisco 49ers game.

Cowboys-Saints, which ended in a 26-20 overtime loss for Dallas, averaged 1,593,540 viewers on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. That topped the still young season’s record of 1,527,306 viewers on Fox for the Game 2 Cowboys win over the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys-Saints game had 746,290 viewers in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic. That’s also a season-to-date record, easily surpassing the 690,682 viewers for Dallas’ season opener against the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football.

Earlier Sunday on Fox Sports Southwest, the Rangers clinched the Al West pennant at 5:02 p.m. when starter Cole Hamels threw the last pitch in a 9-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels. A total of 403,697 viewers gathered for the last pitch and the post-game celebration from 5 to 5:15 p.m. That also marked the peak audience for the game, which averaged 233,719 total viewers and 98,447 in the 18-to-49 age range.

Over on Fox, the Packers-49ers game, which started at 3:25 p.m., averaged 467,438 total viewers and 235,002 in the 18-to-49 demographic. During the 5 to 5:15 p.m. segment when the Rangers won and celebrated, Packers-49ers drew 481,603 total viewers. And the game was mostly at halftime.

CBS’ Jets-Dolphins game from London, which started at 8:30 a.m., averaged 162,895 total viewers.

Among non-football attractions airing opposite all or part of the Cowboys game, CBS’ season premiere of Madam Secretary and the second episode of ABC’s Quantico tied for the most total viewers with 162,895 apiece. The Season 1 finale of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead was the biggest draw among 18-to-49-year-olds with 123,852.

On Saturday, ABC led the college football parade with a triple header that stretched from 11 a.m. to late night. TCU’s trashing of Texas had the biggest haul, with 212,472 total viewers. Baylor’s high-scoring win over Texas Tech, from Jerry’s Palace, followed with 191,225 viewers before Clemson’s close win over Notre Dame capped it off with 141,648 viewers.

The Rangers-Angels game on Fox, which ended in horrifying fashion when Los Angeles scored 5 runs in the ninth to win 11-10, peaked at 347,038 viewers for the final carnage. Overall, the marathon game averaged 205,390 viewers.

On to Friday night, where CBS’ 9 p.m. episode of Blue Bloods had the most total viewers with 233,719. The 7:30 p.m. premiere of ABC’s Dr. Ken had 113,318 viewers to run second in its time slot behind CBS’ closing half-hour of The Amazing Race (127,483 viewers). Dr. Ken dropped to third with 18-to-49-year-olds, losing to Fox’s competing repeat of The Grinder and The Amazing Race.

Here are Friday’s local news derby results.

CBS11 drew the most total viewers at 10 p.m. but TEGNA8 won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and added wins at 5 and 6 p.m. among 25-to-54-year-olds. TEGNA8 ran first at 6 p.m. in total viewers and tied Fox4 for the top spot at 5 p.m.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterThe Texas Rangers hit a new regular season ratings high Thursday night with their post-season clinching win over the Angels. It wasn’t nearly enough, though, to beat the competing out-of-town NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers.

CBS’ Thursday Night Football, in which Baltimore beat Pittsburgh in overtime with a winning field goal at 10:49 p.m., averaged 361,202 D-FW viewers. Tack on another 84,989 for the NFL Network simulcast and that’s a grand total of 446,191 viewers.

The Rangers weighed in with 254,966 viewers on Fox Sports Southwest. That was easily good enough to beat all network entertainment programming -- except football.

Rangers-Angels peaked at 339,955 viewers for the closing minutes of the game. Ravens-Steelers hit a high point of 410,779 viewers on CBS alone between 10:30 and 10:45 p.m.

Among Thursday night’s non-sports attractions, ABC’s 8 p.m. episode of Scandal drew the biggest crowd with 205,390 viewers. It also ranked highest among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds with a haul of 88,920. Football drew almost three times the number of 18-to-49-year-olds with a combined average of 260,407 on CBS and NFL Net. The Rangers also easily outdrew Scandal with an average of 120,677 viewers in this key demographic.

The second episodes of NBC’s new Heroes Reborn and The Player drew just 77,906 total viewers apiece to rank lowest among the Big Four broadcast networks. Both series also fared poorly among 18-to-49-year-olds, with The Player ranking lowest for the night (25,406) while Heroes Reborn had 31,757 to finish just ahead of Fox’s competing season premiere of Bones (28,581).

Here are Thursday’s local news derby results.

TEGNA8 comfortably won a downsized three-way competition at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 had the most total viewers at 6 a.m., but NBC5 ran first with 25-to-54-year-olds.

CBS11 won in total viewers at 6 p.m. while TEGNA8 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds. TEGNA8 had the most total viewers at 5 p.m. and tied Fox4 for the lead among 25-to-54-year-olds.

LOCAL NEWS NOTE: -- CBS11 has tweaked its weekday 4 p.m. news team by moving Lisa Villegas to the meteorologist slot and transferring Jeff Jamison to the weekend evening and late night newscasts. Ken Molestina and Gilma Avalos remain as the 4 p.m. news anchors.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterThe new season’s Episode 2 of Fox’s Empire again sunk all competitors Wednesday while also helping to make winners of lead-in Rosewood and Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast.

Empire amassed 488,686 D-FW viewers, with more than half of them (257,232) in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old age range.

Fox’s second episode of Rosewood handily won its 7 to 8 p.m. slot with 262,049 total viewers and 111,150 in the 18-to-49 realm. The 9 p.m. Fox4 news also cleaned up with respective winning totals of 325,790 and 127,028 viewers.

The night’s only new series premiere, CBS’ Code Black, ran a solid second at 9 p.m. with 233,719 total viewers and 73,041 in the 18-to-49 demographic.

ABC’s biggest scorer, Modern Family at 8 p.m., had 262,049 total viewers, with 130,204 of them 18-to-49-year-olds. NBC’s 7 p.m. episode of The Mysteries of Laura was Wednesday’s worst performer in the 18-to-49 motherlode among the Big Four broadcast networks. It drew just 25,406 of ‘em.

The first-place Texas Rangers reduced their “Magic Number” for winning the Al West to 2 with a home win against the Detroit Tigers. The total viewers count was 212,472, with a high of 318,708 for the closing minutes of a game that ran until 10:22 p.m. on Fox Sports Southwest. In other words, people are starting to pay attention to a team that has confounded all expectations.

Here are Wednesday’s local news derby results.

Fox4 and CBS11 tied for the most total viewers at 10 p.m. with Fox4 comfortably alone on top with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 as usual swept the 6 a.m. competitions while NBC5 controlled the early evening ratings with sweeps at both 5 and 6 p.m.